When I left off, we were in Oklahoma City on Christmas Eve during the blizzard of 2009. We visited on Christmas day, rather than doing any work on the fence and that was a good thing.

We did shovel snow off of the driveway. Those of you who do this often probably have snow blowers. I was using a leaf rake with the tongs pointing up and that worked surprisingly well. Steve had a shovel with a flat end. We made piles of snow. Mom is standing in front of one that I ended up moving a couple of days later. If I had to do this again, I’d know where it’s best to pile snow.

We did venture out in the afternoon to go to Steve’s family dinner. Our
kids didn’t drive up from Texas because of the ice on the roads. It was fun and everyone got home safely.

The next day, December 26th, we started early. Mom called at 5:30 AM to say that she couldn’t get her car out of the driveway to take Christy to dialysis. You know, some things have to happen regardless of the road conditions. Luckily the truck (with the dented door) did just fine on the ice. We delivered them and went on to Lowe’s at 7:00 AM to buy the stringers (those are the horizontal 2x4s in a fence).

A lot actually happened between buying the wood and this photo. There was a lot more snow shoveling. We got Mom and Christy home. We went back to Lowe’s twice to get the fence pickets – the first time they were buried under snow so we had to wait for them to be dug out. The streets were crazy and there were abandoned cars scattered here and there.

The kids showed up after lunch. Lorna visited with Mom and Christy inside and they kept Jack and Elanor entertained. I worked outside with the guys. Jeff and Christopher unloaded and hung pickets (the vertical fence boards) while Steve and I continued with the stringers. That’s Jeff in the orange hat…

…and Chris in the blue.

The weather was pleasant – clear and just above freezing. The snow and ice made you pay attention, but it could have been a lot worse. We were able to finish it mid-afternoon on the 27th. We were all happy!

And then the guys had a snowball fight!

Elanor joined in…

I’ll post a bit more from our Christmas soon.